Don Giovanni (complete opera)

MusicWeb - Recording of the Year 2008

"Rene Jacobs is no traditional Mozart conductor, as we have learned from earlier recordings, and he certainly brings the classical era to life. And, for me, this dramatic, highly intelligent, re-think of Don Giovanni is his finest work yet. Right from the chilling opening chords of the Overture we are in a realistic, rather than a stylistic, world, and the casting of a younger sounding Don and a less hammy Leporello, reinforce his vision. Beautifully recorded this is an important release."
(Dominion Post Recording of the Year 2007)

"Simon Keenlyside had been pencilled in for the title-role for this recording, with Johannes Weisser only playing it in the warm-up live performances. Apparently, however, conductor René Jacobs was so impressed with his young baritone that he got the gig, as they say. No Giovanni can fully encompass every aspect of this multi-faceted role but (and I know I am even more enthusiastic about him than our reviewer, Richard Wigmore) I feel that he has reinvented the role for our age. Weisser is young, only 26 when this was recorded, and sounds it. If his tone sounds a touch callow, that is actually an advantage for a Don who here is presented as utterly narcissistic, shallow in every respect except his deeply felt love for himself. He is not evil, just spoilt. Doubtless thanks to those live performances, the cast feel like a played-in ensemble and they create real drama and genuine comedy (graced by some of the most sparkling recitative accompaniments you will hear). Three cheers for someone having the sense to record Kenneth Tarver's graceful, agile Ottavio. And, despite the odd pipey moment from Pendatchanska's impassioned Elvira, there are no real weak links."
(Recording of the Month Gramophone Awards Issue 2007)

Mozart Don Giovanni (Mostly Mozart Festival, Barbican)
"Regazzo's brilliant diction and timing put him in the first rank…Pendatchanska's Elvira seemed in each of her appearances like a Fury descending not only on Giovanni, but on all the other characters too."
- Patrick O'Connor, Opera, September 2006

If there is one thing that marks out René Jacobs's approach to Mozart, it is the way he constantly asks himself questions - and the specifically musical brilliance of the answers he comes up with. The success of his recent version of La clemenza di Tito is proof of that! After Così fan tutte and Le nozze di Figaro, his recording of this centrepiece of the Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy offers us the latest fruits of his reflections on Classical opera. Premiered at the 2006 Innsbruck Festival and recorded shortly afterwards, this production is nourished by his thoughts on Don Giovanni as taboo-breaker and on a 'physiology of roles' that respects Mozart's intentions as nearly as possible.

NB This set contains the arias of both versions created by Mozart (Prague 1787, Vienna 1788)